I usually try to run the big decisions by you before I take action, but I know you have been distracted over the past weeks watching our selfless public servants in Washington put our interests and those of our nation above petty, partisan political sniping in the debt ceiling debate and marveling at how our crackerjack president, Mr. Swivelhead, makes Jimmy Carter's woebegone administration look like a cross between the Garden of Eden (pre-apple tasting) and Brigadoon.

Severe storms, extreme heat, a crippling freeze, deadly tornadoes, terrible wildfires - Mother Nature has managed to throw almost everything in the book at us within six short months. With just half a year under our belt, the state of Georgia and metro Atlanta already have experienced their share of severe weather, and we obviously don't know what's in store for the second half of 2011.

The Georgia General Assembly will reconvene less than two weeks from now in a special session to take on the constitutionally mandated legislative task of redistricting. Like the U.S. Census, and as a result of it, this process occurs every 10 years when states redraw their congressional and legislative maps to reflect population and other demographic changes.

Dear editor: Richmond Hill has lost a treasured storyteller, historian and first-class lady in Shirley Hiers. Through her writing, she could draw out the most remarkable details of any topic and generate an interest in everything from 1950s basketball players to long-forgotten men and women who still had stories to tell.

An article posted on the Ogeechee Riverkeeper website and repeated below is more proof that the Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources is regularly failing to do its job.

The 15th anniversary of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games has come and gone with barely a whimper. Looking back, the Olympic Games were not Atlanta's finest hours - or days. The city was given a unique gift and didn't know what to do with it.

On Feb. 18, a group of citizens headed to the State Capital for "Conservation Day," hoping to inform legislators about protecting our precious coast and its wildlife. The Dolphin Project was represented by Gerry Sattele and me, from Richmond Hill, and Chris Hines of Savannah.

I recently was proud to announce that the 63rd Expeditionary Signal Battalion will be restationed at Fort Stewart, bringing 492 soldiers and their families to the post. The 63rd Expeditionary Signal Battalion's mission focuses on rapidly deploying worldwide to engineer, install, operate, maintain and defend in support of full-spectrum operations. The 63rd Expeditionary Signal Battalion is the U.S. Army's contribution to the Global Information Grid.

February 18, 2015|
By U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter
Special to the News
|Opinion

Twelve years ago, I made a decision to follow my head, not my heart, and put my career first. I'd just completed my first post-college internship at the Abilene Reporter-News in Texas and, having impressed my supervisor, was offered full-time employment at the end of my three-month stint.

Editor, On Dec. 16, 1773, demonstrators destroyed an entire shipment of tea in the Boston Harbor in protest of taxation without representation. Today, we have ultra-taxation with representation. At the rate that we are going, we will just sign over our employment checks and accept the spending money that our government gives us.

If you watched the Super Bowl a couple of weeks ago - and reports say that 114 million of us did - perhaps you saw a portion of the reprehensible behavior of Seattle wide receiver Doug Baldwin who, after scoring a touchdown, proceeded to mime pulling down his pants and squatting as if on a commode, before dropping the ball to the ground as if using the restroom. The NFL fined Baldwin $11,000, which has to be chump change to this boor. Astonishingly, the incident has gotten very little mention in the media. You can bet this kind of obscene showboating ...

The Georgia Senate had a busy week. We held numerous committee meetings to review legislation and listen to testimony either opposing or supporting bills being considered. The committee process is where the bills are vetted before being considered by the Senate, and it is a crucial part of the legislative process.

February 11, 2015|
By State Sen. Ben Watson
Special to the News
|Opinion